


Stranger Things Have Happened

by MeganMoonlight



Category: Grimm (TV)
Genre: Courtship, Feelings, First Kiss, Friendship, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Pizza, Snark, Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-14
Updated: 2015-01-14
Packaged: 2018-03-07 14:02:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3175528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMoonlight/pseuds/MeganMoonlight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All of this was still bizarre, but Roddy didn't really mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stranger Things Have Happened

Roddy groaned as Monroe told him to put on the table a bowl of salad he just finished preparing. He had no idea how he ended up helping Monroe in the kitchen when the rest went shopping with Nick. No idea at all. At least Monroe didn’t make him cook anything complicated. Actually, the salad he made was actually quite good, and if Roddy ended up eating some before he put the bowl on the table, well, it’s not like Monroe said anything about it, right?

Roddy put the bowl on the table as he’s been told and sat down on the sofa, sighing. He already got used to the “dinner parties,” as Nick jokingly called them one day. They were totally different than random dinners Nick sometimes invited him to. Other Wesen Nick and Monroe had helped usually appeared on those dinners, and it was like a small youth group or something. 

At first Roddy wasn’t very keen on eating near other Wesen, especially ones he didn’t know. He wasn’t a fan of big groups of people in general. However, Monroe mentioned each person from time to time when he invited Roddy to practice together, and one time Nick managed to talk him into eating dinner with all of them, claiming that “it’ll be good for him.” Because Roddy let a Grimm and a Blutbad decide what is good for him.

He met the others Nick and Monroe mentioned about two months ago, on the first dinner he agreed to go to. First was Holly Clark, a shy Blutbad who preferred to stay close to Monroe rather than spend time with the others. Nick told him it’s because of Holly’s past and how Monroe rescued her and helped to reunite her with her mother. Siblings, Hanson and Gracie, were humans. Roddy was surprised to see them, since he expected to meet Wesen only, but once they started talking, he found out they were actually pretty cool. Hanson was more reserved and mostly listened to everybody else. When Gracie noticed a hand-made bracelet on Roddy’s wrist they started chatting about food and the bracelets and necklaces that Gracie had made. They were sitting in the living room and talking about Monroe’s cooking skills, when Holly entered, carrying a plate with cookies. She gave some to Hanson and Gracie and then, surprisingly, gave one to Roddy as well and smiled slightly. It was hard for him to not to return the smile. So, yeah, Roddy liked those three.

However, on the current dinner two new people were supposed to arrive. One of them was Hanson and Gracie’s friend, Kevin. The other one was called Barry, but Nick didn’t tell him anything else.

Kevin, who was also human, arrived along with Gracie and Hanson. He was Gracie’s boyfriend and Roddy found out that his, Kevin’s, and Gracie’s sense of humor were very similar, which made Roddy warm up to the guy rather quickly. Since there was still some time until the actual dinner Nick took Hanson, Gracie and Kevin shopping. Holly went to take a nap, since she arrived at Monroe’s earlier than Roddy, which meant Roddy and Monroe were the only ones who were waiting for “Barry.”

Roddy must have sat on the couch for about ten minutes before he heard knocking on the door.

His first instinct when he sniffed the air was to run from the house and don’t come back. Two Jägerbars entered the house and Roddy carefully stepped behind the couch, so there was some more space between him and the other Wesen. He knew where he stood on the food chain and he wasn’t going to put himself in the line.

“Good afternoon,” the older Jägerbar said right after Monroe let them in. “Thank you for inviting Barry. He could use to spend some time around other people.”

“No problem, Frank,” Monroe smiled and took Barry’s jacket, then hang it next to the rest. “We’ll see how it works out.”

“If there are any problems, just call me,” Frank said and then put a hand on the younger Jägerbar’s shoulder. “Behave yourself, Barry. If I get a call from Monroe…”

“I’ll be fine,” the Jägerbar, Barry, murmured, and it looked like he wasn’t really enthusiastic about the whole idea, which Roddy definitely understood. He was about to go to the kitchen, but then Barry looked right at him and Roddy had to fight the urge to hide behind the couch and disappear. It was a natural reaction to the presence of a predator in the room.

He really had no idea why Monroe and Nick thought that putting a predator and a prey in a room was a good idea. Holly was okay, but this Barry… he was big, even for a young bear. Strong, too, judging by his arms. And it looked like he wasn’t happy about being here. 

When Monroe closed the door after Frank left, he led Barry to the living room where Roddy was still standing. Not good. Not good at all.

“Barry, this is Roddy. He’ll be eating with us.”

“A Reinigen,” Barry snorted, as he eyed Roddy up and down and that was enough.

“Do you have a problem?” Roddy asked, tightening his grip on the backrest of the couch.

Barry raised an eyebrow at that, but Monroe quickly stepped between them.

“Come on, guys. Let’s not do that. We’re playing nice,” Monroe let go of Barry’s shoulder. “I have to go back to the kitchen or the food will be ruined. Roddy, will you show Barry where everything is?”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Roddy looked at Monroe questioningly. He still felt Barry looking at him and it made him feel weird.

“Nick thinks so.”

Roddy snorted. “Yeah, sure. That must mean it’s an awesome idea.”

Monroe rolled his eyes. “Very funny. Okay, guys. You stay here and talk and I’ll go finish the food. Nick and the rest should be here soon,” with that he went to the kitchen, leaving Roddy and Barry alone in the room.

“Just no disemboweling!”

Roddy blinked, quickly looking at Barry. “Disemboweling? What disemboweling?” He wet his lips, ready to move away from Barry as far as possible.

“I’m not going to do that,” Barry said quietly and he looked down, his brow furrowed. The Jägerbar looked hurt by this comment, which surprised Roddy, but it didn’t make him calmer, really.

At least he did not attack Roddy, yet (he had enough time and occasion to do that, it was a justified fear). He didn’t even look too threatening now that Roddy looked at him. He was still taller and stronger than Roddy and, well, him being a bear already sounded threatening enough, but seeing Barry standing there, looking down at his hands, close to pouting… he looked more like a puppy than a bear.

“So…” Roddy sat down on the couch, deciding to trust Monroe and relax a bit, but still cautious and never taking his eyes off Barry. “Why did your dad brought you here?”

Barry sat down on the couch heavily and shrugged. “Not your business,” he grumbled and Roddy moved away from him a bit, just in case. 

That was their first meeting. After that, if Barry was at Monroe’s, Roddy usually stayed away from him. But he noticed that from time to time the Jägerbar was staring at him, looking away quickly when Roddy turned to him. It was strange, but Roddy decided it was probably some strange thing Jägerbars did. Or Barry did, at least.

But one day, when Gracie, Hanson and Kevin went with Nick to get Holly, and Roddy was sitting in the guest bedroom and playing on his phone, Barry opened the door, looking at him. 

Roddy looked back, waiting for his reaction. He no longer felt threatened by the Jägerbar’s presence, but Barry had the habit of looking at Roddy in a certain way and it was hard to interpret it. He was still a jerk, there was no arguing with that, but he wasn’t as bad when he wasn’t being an ass who thinks it’s funny to scare other people.

When Roddy put down his phone Barry took it as a permission to enter, and sat down on the floor, leaning back against the wall. He was silent.

“So… what’s up?” Roddy asked after a while, since the silence in the room became a bit heavy.

“Nothing. I’m bored, I guess.”

“You could have go shopping with Monroe, or something,” Roddy answered and Barry shrugged. “And what? Sitting here and not saying anything is better?”

“Guess so.”

“Okay. If you say so,” Roddy picked up his phone again and resumed the game, not looking at the Jägerbar anymore. But he didn’t last long. He shook his head, quit the game and looked at Barry again. “So, is your dad going to drive you home?”

Barry blinked and it looked like he was going to tell Roddy to fuck off, but he just shrugged. “Yeah. House arrest. He’s supposed to know where I am all the time. I’m not even allowed to see my friends.”

This is how Roddy found out Barry actually liked to talk, and he even wasn’t as much of a jerk when he actually felt comfortable. He told Roddy about what happened to his mother (Roddy did not ask any questions), he saw how sad Barry got when he talked about her), how his father made sure that Barry isn’t doing anything dangerous anymore and how Nick and Monroe helped him. Yes, Roddy was freaked out by what Barry, Jason and T.B. did and what Barry’s mother was telling him, but seeing that the Jägerbar really looked like he was sorry, he felt a little calmer. In return he talked a bit about his school and his music and about his father, it was only fair after all, right? 

Soon Nick, Kevin, Gracie and Hanson and Holly came back. Monroe managed to get back home as well and soon they all were sitting by the table, eating vegetarian casserole, which was really good. Monroe was really great at cooking. 

At first Nick and Monroe were the only ones who were talking, everybody else were sitting quietly and eating, looking at one another. But then Barry started to talk about his dad’s business and going to a concert and the discussion went from there. Roddy noticed that all of them spent enough time together to be comfortable around the rest. It was a surprisingly good feeling.

The only thing that made him feel uneasy was the fact that Barry kept looking at him. Every time Roddy turned to say something he could feel Barry observing. But it wasn’t really bad, or anything. He felt like somebody was actually really paying attention to what he was saying. It was good.

After dinner, Nick went to drive everybody back home, while Roddy was waiting for him to came back (not enough space in the car to drive them all at the same time) and Barry was waiting for his dad to get him. When Barry offered to help Monroe cleaning up Roddy stood up as well, but they didn’t wait long for Frank Rabe to arrive.

The older Jägerbar smiled when he entered the house and saw Barry talking to Monroe.

“Dad, hi!” Barry said, his voice raised a bit.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” Barry smiled and then turned to Roddy, stepping closer to him. “This is Roddy. He plays violin. Monroe says he’s really awesome at it.”

Frank smiled at Roddy and stretched his hand towards him. “Frank Rabe. It’s nice to meet you, Roddy.”

“Thank you. You, too, sir,” Roddy shook his hand awkwardly, not knowing how else to react. Now that he stood closer to the older Jägerbar he saw that the man was not as scary as he seemed to be when he appeared at Monroe’s for the first time.

He still had to fight his instinct that told him to stay away from the Jägerbars, but Frank’s smile, just as Barry’s, was very gentle. Roddy saw where Barry got it from.

“Are you staying here, Roddy?” Frank asked and Roddy blinked, surprised.

“No, I’m… waiting for Nick. I mean, Detective Burkhardt,” he said, sitting back down on the couch. “He’s supposed to take me back home.”

“Maybe he could ride with us?”

Roddy looked at Barry, surprised, but the young Jägerbar was turned to his father, waiting for his answer, but Roddy only scratched the back of his head. “I don’t want to impose. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure? It wouldn’t be a problem,” Frank assured him.

“I’m sure, but thank you.”

When he said that he noticed how Barry‘s face fell. He murmured something like “I’ll be right back,” and disappeared in the kitchen, leaving Roddy alone in the living room with Frank. The silence was uncomfortable, because Roddy had no idea what to say, or if he even should say anything, but Frank didn’t seem to notice, or pretended not to notice. He sat down next to Roddy on the couch.

“You play violin?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t think I’ve even seen Barry so excited about music that is not Van Halen or anything that is not rock music, really. It’s a nice change.”

Roddy didn’t know what to say to that, so he stayed silent. Fortunately they didn’t have to wait too long, because soon Barry came back, followed by Monroe, who was wiping his hands with a dish-towel.

”Sorry, I wanted to clean up a bit first,” he said to Frank. “I think the dinner went well.”

While Frank got up to talk to Monroe, Roddy, who was still sitting on the couch noticed that Barry stepped closer and sat down next to him.

“You left your phone in the kitchen,” he said and Roddy right away touched the pocket of his pants and, yeah, it was empty. Barry played with his phone and it kind of looked like he might drop it, so Roddy took it from him without a word and put it in his pocket right away. Barry only rolled his eyes when Roddy told him to find something else to play with. Only when he said it he realized how it must have sounded. And it kind of explained the stupid grin on Barry’s stupid face. Go figure.

After Frank and Barry left, Roddy stayed to help Monroe cleaning up. The Blutbad already planned to tell Nick that making those dinners a more regular thing was actually not a bad idea, and Roddy realized that he agreed. Kind of. 

It was still bizarre. Him, a Reinigen, eating with a Grimm, two Blutbaden, three humans and a Jägerbar. But it wasn’t bad. He actually had fun and even cleaning up wasn’t as bad as he listened to Monroe talking about trying new recipes for the next dinner. Roddy only nodded at the suggestion of a vegan burgers and took out his phone. He wanted to pick Nick’s number to text him, but then he noticed something he did not expect to see. Something he did not put there himself.

Barry left him his number. 

***

Roddy closed the door after himself and left his bag on the floor. It was good to be home. Just a couple more months and he will be done with school forever. He could survive. At least he was eighteen now, that was something. 

Sighing quietly, he took off his shirt. He was about to take a shower when he got a text. He took out his phone and looked at the screen.

‘im bored. math homework sucks. how r U?’

He grinned at the message.

Since the dinner at Monroe’s when Barry left him his number, they exchanged texts almost daily for the last two months.

At first Roddy had no idea what to do or think about it. Who wouldn’t be suspicious or at least surprised? But Barry didn’t contact him after that night (it was logical to assume that if Barry left him his phone number, he must have saved Roddy’s number at some point, too). The Jägerbar actually waited for Roddy to contact him if he wanted to. That was what Roddy found out later when he talked to Barry about it.

One time, after a particularly bad day at school, he felt like hitting something. His hand and his head hurt, that was a result of protecting himself from jerks at his school, but he still felt like punching something. He promised Nick he would not use his rats for revenge anymore, and he didn’t, but he still felt… hopeless. He considered talking to Monroe or Nick, but as much as they offered, he doubted they actually wanted to talk to him about how much school sucked when they most likely had more important things to do. Nick was a cop after all. And Monroe was probably helping him with some cases.

Then he remembered that Barry left him his number. He bit his lip wondering what to do, then he quickly typed in a message and hit “send.” He had second thoughts, sure, but on the other hand, Barry wouldn’t leave him his number if he didn’t want Roddy to contact him, right? 

It wasn’t even a minute later and his phone vibrated in his hand. When he saw the text, he grinned. He couldn’t help it. Barry wrote that next time Roddy could skip and they could hang out instead and added a winky face in the end. He didn’t even have time to respond to this one, when he received a next text, this time it was a picture of what Roddy assumed was Barry’s DVD shelf. Roddy saw there a couple of films he wanted to see.

After that their conversations went surprisingly smoothly. Roddy no longer had reservations about texting the Jägerbar. Be it problems with school, people being assholes or whenever he just wanted to talk to someone Barry was there, replying to almost every of his texts. At this point Roddy could not imagine not texting Barry or receiving the stupid smiley faces Barry insisted on putting in almost every message.

He sighed and, still smiling at the screen of his phone, replied:

‘just got back. gonna take a shower i guess’

‘cool. txt me l8er :)’

After a shower, Roddy laid down in his bed and looking at the screen of his phone again.

‘wanna be done with school already,’ he sent.

‘what happened? need me 2 kick someones ass?’

Roddy sighed. Of course Barry would figure out what had happened. Since he found out about how Roddy was treated at school he sometimes offered to walk Roddy home, and some time ago one of the bullies walked to school with a black eye, which Roddy assumed was Barry’s job. But Barry was still on parole and Roddy didn’t want to be reason Barry got in trouble. The Jägerbar could be very protective.

‘i took care of it dont worry’

Well, it was the truth. He still felt like shit, his head still hurt, but it’s not like it was the first time. He could handle it. 

‘skip 2morrow. im gonna ask dad 2 let me stay home’

Roddy had to admit, it did sound good, but… ‘no its cool’

‘U sure? i can order pizza and fries’

‘don’t wanna get you in trouble’

‘dad will be fine. he likes U’

‘you sure?”

‘yeah, he says its ok. gonna call Monroe or something’

‘ok. see you’

‘night’

***

The next day Roddy stood with his schoolbag and two bags of potato chips he knew Barry liked. He knocked on the Rabes’ door and waited for somebody to answer. 

It wasn’t the first time Roddy visited Barry at home so he didn’t feel as uncomfortable standing in front of the huge house, but it was still very impressive and intimidating. When Roddy was there for the first time he kind of felt like he was in a museum, but once Barry sat in front of a huge TV put his feet on the table and told Roddy to do the same, he relaxed a bit.

When Barry’s dad opened the door after awhile, he smiled at Roddy.

“Hello, Roddy. Come in,” he said, letting him in. “I already called Detective Burkardt and told him you are here today, so I believe there will be no problems.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind me staying, sir?”

“Of course not. I don’t have any reasons to not trust you.”

Roddy looked down at his shoes. He was surprised at the older man’s words, but it was nice to hear them. It wasn’t often that people said they trusted him.

“Thank you.”

“Oh, and Roddy,” Frank lowered his voice a bit, looking at the door to the living room where Barry was sitting, judging from the smell of pizza. “Barry already bought pizza and planned the whole day. He’s… really excited about today.”

Roddy blinked. What? “Why?”

“I’m not really the person who should be telling you this,” Frank smiled, maybe a bit sadly. “But, Roddy, please don’t hurt him. He’s really trying.”

Roddy had no idea what that meant, but he nodded slowly. He definitely felt uneasy now. After taking his shoes off he entered the living room where Barry was sitting on the couch. The young Jägerbar smiled brightly when he saw Roddy and it was hard not to smile back.

He sat down right next to Barry and relaxed against the couch. He could smell not only the pizza, but also what must have been Barry’s cologne. Okay. That was strange. It was different from the one Barry usually used (he used only one brand, it was hard not to smell the difference) and it was… sweeter? It fit Barry’s natural scent pretty nicely, if Roddy could say so. 

“Okay, boys. I’m going to work,” Frank said and Roddy turned to look at him. He took his jacket from the back the one chair. “I’m trusting you with the house, so behave.”

“No problem, dad.”

“Sure, Mister Rabe,” Roddy said at the same time.

After Barry closed the door behind his dad he came back to the living room. He sat back down on the couch and looked at the two boxes of pizza.

“I ordered two, one pepperoni and one vegetarian. I didn’t know what you wanted, so I just got the usual.”

“Both are cool, don’t worry. I brought snacks.”

The Jägerbar smiled as he put the chips on the table. He looked a bit… worried? Weird. Barry was one of the most confident people Roddy knew. He wasn’t afraid of saying what he meant, argue, he wasn’t even afraid to actually use force when somebody really made him angry. One time when he and Roddy were out and a guy from Roddy’s English class started talking bullshit about them, he barely managed to stop Barry from kicking the guy’s ass, even if the asshole would have deserved it. Even if he was young, Barry was incredibly strong.

So, now, seeing Barry nervous was a bit strange. It must have had something to do with what Frank said before he left.

“Hey, what’s up?”

Barry looked surprised by the question. “What?”

“You know, pizza, all of this,” he pointed at the orange juice and the DVDs already prepared. “And the cologne. There was no way I won’t smell it on you and you know it. Wanna talk to me?”

Barry bit his lip and mumbled something Roddy didn’t really hear. Even his Reinigen hearing did not help much, when all he heard was something like a blend of words in a language he did not understand. 

“What?”

“I thought it might be a date,” he repeated louder, glancing at Roddy, still looking unsure.

“A date?”

“…yeah. If you want to.”

Roddy blinked. Because, really? Barry, a Jägerbar he met on a dinner with a Grimm and a Blutbad, the Jägerbar he somehow befriended, was asking him on a date. And was waiting for his answer now. He looked sincere.

“You mean it, right?” He asked. “You want this to be a date.”

“Yeah.”

Roddy couldn’t stop looking at Barry. He was serious. Now that he thought about it, he noticed that Barry paid a lot of attention to him when they were together. Even if he could be a jerk sometimes (Roddy was a jerk sometimes too so he couldn't hold that against Barry), he was also attentive, he always brought food, asked if he wanted to drink something. Of course Roddy noticed it, and it made him feel warm inside, but he never guessed that the Jägerbar actually meant all of it. That he was actually interested in him as well. Because why would he be? Roddy was a Reinigen.

Barry was attractive and it was hard not to notice that. Roddy noticed it right away when they met for the first time, but then it was hard to focus on anything when his instinct told him to run. He got to know Barry better now. He attractive, confident and his family was wealthy… but Roddy also knew him well enough to see that he was not like Sarah. Not at all. Barry actually cared about him. Was spending time with him because he wanted to. Invited him to his house and introduced him to his dad…

Hey. The Jägerbar became his friend first and he never expected that either. Nick and Monroe became friends as well. He had dinner with a Grimm, two Blutbaden and three humans more than once, so, maybe… Roddy did not say anything, just took the phone out of his pocket, to which Barry’s face fell. Roddy quickly typed in a message and sent it.

Barry jumped at the sound of his phone, but when he read the text he moved closer to Roddy. He replied and soon Roddy’s phone vibrated in his hand.

‘can I kiss U?’

Barry was grinning then and Roddy didn’t even have to look at his phone to type the answer.

The Jägerbar glanced at his phone. He snorted and Roddy grinned as Barry leaned in, bringing their lips together in a kiss.

‘yes.’

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 16 of **[Smallfandomfest](http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/)** for the prompt Barry/Roddy - _"As bizarre as it is to have ended up in Nick and Monroe's little wessen youth group, Roddy has to admit it's nice to have someone he can actually text late at night when shit hits the fan. If that person is a jagerbarr, well, stranger things have happened."_.
> 
> When I saw this prompt I just had to write something, since I love this pairing. The fic got longer than I expected, but well, I just went where the plotbunny led me. Enjoy, guys!
> 
> Thanks for beta to **[lil-1337](http://lil-1337.livejournal.com/)**.
> 
> Also can be found **[*HERE*](http://megan-moonlight.livejournal.com/560800.html)**


End file.
